Street Corner February 2013

There’s a new hot rod shop in town. The town is Macedonia, Ohio, and the shop is Precision Hot Rods & Fabrication. Precision has been in business for one year, but the four-man crew has many years worth of car-building credentials, including some high-profile rods. Co-owners Larry Brunkala and Dan Tesar have been friends for 15 years and collaborated on the ’32 Ford five-window coupe that was named Goodguys Hot Rod of the Year in 2007. Some of Tesar’s other projects have been Ridler award contenders. Mark Mindzora, the body, paint, and powdercoat man at Precision, has laid the paint on a few Ridler finalists as well. Frame shop fabricator Jim Phoenix, along with Tesar and Mindzora, worked at the late Barry Lobeck’s Just A Hobby chassis shop.

1/8

Precision Hot Rods & Fabrication specializes in turnkey rods, but is expanding into the area of ’50s-era cars and custom bikes, as well as custom chassiswork. Business has been good. “We’ve been quite lucky,” Brunkala told us. We suspect that luck is just a small factor in their success and we look forward to seeing some great cars coming out of this shop.

Want A Body Like Ours?

The STREET RODDER Road Tour ’40 was a prototype, but Dennis Carpenter Ford Restoration Parts is now offering brand-new ’40 Ford coupe bodies. The all-steel bodies are made in the United States by Real Deal Steel, using high-strength 19-gauge steel with heavier 16-gauge steel for the inner bracing. They are styled exactly like the originals, but built on modern assembly fixtures using spot welding techniques similar to those used in modern-day automobile production. The interior and trunk floor pans are built to original specifications and fit original or aftermarket ’40 Ford frames. These reproduction bodies are officially licensed by Ford.

4/8

Base price bodies come without doors and decklid, and will accept original or aftermarket parts. Top price bodies come with doors and decklid hinged and mounted. Two firewall options are available; an original Ford version and a smooth, 5-inch recessed version for street rod applications. Repro steel front fenders, doors, decklids, floor pans, and other ’40 coupe sheetmetal parts are available separately from Dennis Carpenter.

You’ve probably seen the Goodguys logo featuring a yellow Deuce sedan zipping its way along. That car is a cartoon version of the real street rod owned by Goodguys founder Gary Meadors. Now there is a real street rod version of the cartoon.

5/8

Custom car builder Dave Kindig of Kindig-It Design in Salt Lake City created the car from an all-steel body donated by collector George Poteet. It resembles Meadors’ original ’32 Tudor built by Sam and Chip Foose in the ’80s, but with appearance changes inspired by the logo design drawn by Thom Taylor. A stretched nose, forward-leaning grille, 2-1/2-inch chop, and raised rear wheelwells are just some of the Kindig-It Design modifications that distinguish the tribute car from the original.

The just-finished sedan made its debut in the Goodguys display at the recent SEMA Show in Las Vegas. Throughout the coming year and a half, it will be making appearances at Goodguys National events before serving as the Grand Prize Giveaway Car at the 2014 Goodguys PPG Nationals in Columbus, Ohio.

Keep your eyes on STREET RODDER for tech articles and a full feature on Kindig-It Design Goodguys’ sedan.

First Model T Plant Restored

Ford’s Piquette Plant in Detroit, where Henry Ford created the Model T, has been restored and opened to the public. Preservationists and Ford history enthusiasts renovated the factory and office, installed exhibits, and restored the façade to its original 1908 appearance.

6/8

“It’s the first building built and owned by the Ford Motor Company and the only early automobile plant in Detroit open to the public,” Jerald Mitchell, president of the non-profit organization that purchased the building in 2000 with donations by members of the Henry Ford Heritage Association, said. “Ford produced eight models here between 1904 and 1910. The Model T was designed and engineered in this facility. The first 12,000 Model T cars were built here, starting in September 1908.”

Exhibits include a factory scene from the days before the moving assembly line (when automobiles were hand-assembled), Henry Ford’s restored office, the experimental room where the Model T was developed, and one of the earliest existing Model Ts.

The plant is closed during the winter, but will be open to the public April through October. Visiting hours and other details are available at www.tplex.org or by calling (313) 872-8759.

Flaming River Building Springs

7/8That sure doesn’t look like a steering column!

Before when we thought of Flaming River, we’d think of steering. Now we think of suspension. The manufacturer of aftermarket steering columns, U-joints, boxes, rack-and-pinion kits, and pumps, has expanded its product line to include a full line of shocks, springs, and coilover kits for hot rods, street rods, and muscle cars.

Flaming River lightweight high travel springs are offered in lengths from 4 to 14 inches and a variety of rates. The dual-adjustable aluminum shocks are available in a variety of custom or stock mount styles. These new products are made in the United States. Find out more by visiting www.flamingriver.com or by calling (800) 648-8022.

Hot rod show participants in America’s heartland are familiar with the Jack Walker Award. Jack Walker is the builder and owner of the best-known clone of the famous Hirohata Merc. His awards are popular prizes at shows in the area and are created by Mike Johnston, his friend and neighbor in Belton, Missouri. Johnston and Walker are both lifelong rodders. Their trophies are truly original works of art. Wouldn’t you like to win one?